The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show happened last night (it airs on CBS on December 4th), and the call time for models, hair, and makeup was 9 AM. For a 7 PM show. That’s ten hours of hair, makeup, and spray tanning. But somewhere between makeup (typical glowy gorgeousness courtesy of Tom Pecheux) and hair (“beachy, tousled, undone” waves by Orlando Pita), runway veteran and burgeoning Kookie entrepreneur Karlie Kloss popped out of her makeup chair to tell us about something near and dear to our hearts: a new ‘do.

“I think a woman’s confidence is in her hair. It’s true! When you change your hair, everything sort of changes. It affects the way you act, the way you dress…your hair is a very very influential part of your style. And a woman with a great haircut can wear a paper bag and look amazing. Garren cut it on Monday for a Vogue story, at Patrick [Demarchelier’s] studio. He took off about eight inches. My hair has always been very thin, very fine—very boring, actually, and it was so broken and damaged from the last five years of working. It was really just kind of nothing. It could be turned in to a long, glamorous thing with extensions, or you could add a fringe, but on its own, it had no style. And no texture, either. Also, the thing is, for me, as a model, having the plain, stereotypical model hair, you’re a blank canvas, which allows you to transform—to become a character—whereas when you have a hair style, you’re individualized. And this cut, just by itself, is such a style. I love it; I feel like I’m changing... I don’t know, I’m finding who I am. I’m twenty years old, I’m entering a new phase of my life; I bought a house! I sign the papers tomorrow. There’s a lot of change happening in my life right now. It’s a new haircut for a new decade.”

And how would she describe this cut? We mentioned Michelle Pfieffer in Scarface; she said she’s channeling Jane Birkin. Above all, though, “It’s…it’s…‘the Karlie.’ It’s the Karlie! [Laughs] I want women to someday go in to the hair salon and say, ‘I want the Karlie.’”

At this point, Tom Pecheux passed by and purred, “She looks divine! I love it,” giving her a squeeze. “Can I say something?” he continued. “If you were stupid, it would not look good.”

Kloss’ eyes widened. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not!” she laughed. Chalk it up to the language barrier (Pecheux is as French as they come), but if smart equals confident, then he is 100% right.

Karlie Kloss, wearing a Stella McCartney dress, photographed by Emily Weiss in New York on November 7th, 2012.